Wise As Serpents

Wise As Serpents by Sunwheel Psychedelic

Tracks

1. Bastinado Part I
2. The Ecstasy Of Lovers
3. Violence In Springtime
4. Swindlers And Saints
5. Sounds Of War
6. Faust (Man’s Eternal Folly)
7. Bastinado Part II
8. Extinguishing The Flame
9. Prayers Unanswered
10. Wise As Serpents


Credits

Written and performed by Sunwheel Psychedelic
Produced by G.W. Miner
Additional production at MixMasters Chicago

Special thanks to Jim at WCR Pickups, Scumback Speakers
and McNaught Guitars.

Design and layout by Lowercase, Inc.


Lyrics

1. Bastinado Part I

2. The Ecstasy Of Lovers

The way you look tonight
Makes me feel so alive
And the way I feel tonight
Lets not waste no time

Let me take you home
We can be alone
I’ll show you the way that I feel
Let’s make our way through the
Garden of Desire

The ecstasy of Lovers
Burning on and on through the night
The ecstasy of Lovers

If the world is to end
Then let it unto dust descend
Like evening mist dissolving
When the morning begins

Only our love to remain
Ignited by lust will sustain
The angles blush
And the night screams out in pain

The ecstasy of Lovers
Burning on and on through the night
The ecstasy of Lovers
Burning on through the night

There’s no other feeling
That can take me higher

You are the one that I love

But only for tonight

3. Violence In Springtime

Walking the fields where young men died
These blood soaked fields where mothers cried
I wonder what I’d find
If I went back in time

I woke up in the cold with a gun in my hand
My comrade sleeping silent beside me
The sound of gunfire in the distance

Are we brother against brother
Or friend against foe
I must say that I don’t know

We look the same from behind the gun
And war is no fun

Running toward the end
Towards the human wall
Needing to collapse
But I obey the call
Ordered to go on
Despite the fear inside
They say that war is just
While others die

I woke up on the ground
But there was not a sound
No one alive to be found

I’ve lost my faith
And I’ve lost my love
The eagle has come
And devoured the dove

No solace in the night
Sleep with shadows in my bed
And in my dreams they die
They die they die they die

They die

4. Swindlers And Saints

YYYYEAAHHHHHH
1 and a two 1 2 3 4
1 and a two 1 2 3 4
You got the need little honey
And I got what you need
1 and a two 1 2 3 4
1 and a two 1 2 3 4
You’ve got the need to believe

I bring you revelation
For a little compensation
The pearly gates are open wide

Watch out!
Swindlers and Saints
One gonna put you on a string
And the other gonna set you free
All right all right

Now foxes have their holes
And birds have their nests
But man has nowhere to hide little honey
Nowhere to hide his head

If you’re looking for your Destiny
You know it ain’t gonna come from free
Never gave a damn about your soul
Just want the money

I bring you revelation
For a little compensation
The pearly gates are open wide

Watch out!
Swindlers and Saints
One gonna put you on a string
And the other gonna set you free
All right all allright

Prophet or profit
Nobody knows
The fool dies happy
And the scoffer dies alone

Dies alone

Staring into the Abyss

YYYYEAAHHHHHH
1 and a two 1 2 3 4
1 and a two 1 2 3 4
You got the need little honey
And I got what you need
Be careful what you wish for
Shadows on the wall
‘Cuz a one way ticket down a dead end street
Ain’t no salvation at all

I bring you revelation
For a little compensation
The pearly gates are open wide

Swindlers and Saints

Swindlers and Saints

Swindlers and Saints
One gonna put you on a string
And the other gonna set you free
All right All right

5. Sounds Of War

A black sun rising over an empty town
Its ruins a martyrdom to iniquity
Silent to all but those who listen
The women and children
Still they scream

No life at all
Not a sound or a grassy blade
Since the day that the soldiers came

No life at all
And no answer for those who prayed
On the day that the soldiers came

Thousands gather to hear the new prophet of hope
With a word the masses sway in the breeze
See how they laugh, dance and cry
Blinded by promises
And easily deceived

The leaders of men
I condemn you all
A banquet of fools
Parasites and frauds

The poet and the pen
Will answer the call
With these words I hang you
And by them you will fall

And by them you will fall

6. Faust (Man’s Eternal Folly)

How many dare to know
What so few have known?
To scale the face of angels
And ascend to Heaven’s throne

To dance upon the wire
Where Life and Death contend
Insanity and madness
Are my only friend

Falling through the netherworld
Where tortured souls abide
Where Reason mocks
Her wretched chains bind me to the rocks
Cast adrift a madman
Chasing diamonds in the rain
A thousand years bereft of sun
And thousands more remain

Can I be redeemed by Love?
I’ll find out in the end

I count the hours on the clock
For soon the sands of time will run
My soul upon the dock
Looking down into a blackened sea
To drown in mystic wine a fool
And known only in infamy

In the looking glass
What do I see?
War and plague and pestilence
All manner of cruelty
Shots ring out among the crowd
And governments come crashing down

Nation against nation
And man versus man
Mushroom clouds exploding
Devastation of the land
Sex and drugs and guns
Another innocent life lost
As Faust looks on at
Man’s eternal folly

And its cost

Can we back away in time?
Before we meet the end

At Armageddon

Armageddon

A vast and fiery cauldron opens before my eyes
The Earth is swallowed up

Will we live or will we die?

7. Bastinado Part II

8. Extinguishing The Flame

A raven climbing into the sky
Silent, like a passer-by
Climbing higher
Skies on fire
Soon to let the hammer fall

In the marriage of Truth and Falsehood
I reign
No longer bound
Extinguishing the flame

In my hands
A death rattle shakes
Around my neck
A garland of snakes

My eyes are flames
I whisper forbidden names
My laughter is thunder
Tearing earth asunder

In the marriage of Truth and Falsehood
I reign
No longer bound
Extinguishing the flame

Extinguishing the flame

The truth of suffering
And the imprisonment of flesh
Dissolves in an instant
With the light of intelligence

The path opens before me
I have discovered the way
To the cessation of suffering
Extinguishing the flame

Millions of years
I’ve strived for release
Brought forth from slumber
Awakened from sleep

Rising through the planes
Taking different names
Waiting for the moment
To break these chains

In the marriage of Truth and Falsehood I reign
No longer bound
Extinguishing the flame

No more do I seek, no longer strive for release
The cycle is broken
Finally I’m free

Finally

I am free

9. Prayers Unanswered

What is love
And what is truth
Why do we die?

What is false
And what is true
What of suicide?

Father
Please forgive me
Mother
Please heal me

Please bring peace unto my soul

Faith
Falling like rain
I call to you
But there is no answer
For my sins I’ve surely paid
With prayers unanswered

Why does war exist?
Is there an answer?
Calling out in darkest night
Prayers unanswered

Father
Why do they die?
Mother
Please tell me why

Faith
Falling like rain
I call to you
But there is no answer
For my sins I’ve surely paid
With prayers unanswered

The blind alleyways of hopelessness
Where reason dims and understanding is false
Forgive me for my selfishness
Turning a blind eye to another’s loss

Father
Please forgive me

I call to you
Call and call and call to you
I call to you
Call and call and call
To you

But there’s no answer

There’s no answer

10. Wise As Serpents

Midnight in the garden of temptation
Grains of sand fall through my hands
On my left an angel of mercy
On my right, riches without end

The way is clear
But still I am troubled
The weakness of sin
Binds me to the flesh

So now I sever ties completely
But before I go
I say to you my friend

Be wise as serpents
And innocent as doves
Don’t let fools destroy
The things you love

Tread lightly upon the earth
And reclaim thy gilded wings
Never to be bound by senseless things

Still the hounds of Hell pursue me
Through forests laid bare
Consumed by fire
I choke on the stench of rot and ash
Weak and alone I start to tire

The black embrace of sleep consumes me
Such hellish dreams I’ve never seen
Drawn and dismembered and dismembered again
Begging for reprieve
I wake with a scream

Be wise as serpents
And innocent as doves
Don’t let fools destroy
The things you love

As great as the sky above
But never losing the common touch
Learning to accommodate all things
Taking leave when the time has come

Morning in the light of emancipation
The flowering of freedom all around me
On my left an angel of mercy
Smiling as I wake from a dream

The way of strife is at an end
Here I have neither foe nor friend
I look upon the cross
That for so long I seemed to care
And realize

That there was nothing there

Be wise as serpents
More quiet than the still of night
No longer burdened by
What, Where or Why

Follow the road less traveled
Until at the waters edge
Thy true image reflected

Receive the divine heritage